Sunday, July 26, 2015

I first discovered Melissa Marr when someone recommended Graveminder. It was such a good book that I immediately looked into what other books she had written. Made for You had really good reviews so I put it on my TBR. It took me a while to get to it but it was certainly worth the wait.Even though this book is classified as a YA novel, it has a much more mature feel to it. While most chapters are from Eva's point of view as she recovers from a hit and run and realizes that she may be the target of a killer, a few chapters are told by her best friend Grace. The rest are told by "Judge" and these chapters tend to be quite disturbing. I definitely felt some anxiety during some of the more violent parts of the story but I also couldn't take my eyes off the pages. Sometimes, I don't like books that are told by multiple characters but this was done really well and I think it was necessary to write the story this way for it to work. As the reader, I knew that the killer had to be someone Eva knew and I found myself making mental notes of all the possible clues in the earlier chapters. I love a mystery where I can't predict the killer/ending from the start. It makes the story so much more engaging. The identity of the killer in this book is revealed a few chapters before the conclusion and from that point on, the suspense level will not allow you to put the book down until the last sentence.Great book, great ending. If you want to read more about it,click here to go to the Amazon page. Melissa Marr's web page can be found at www.melissamarrbooks.com.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Just returned the other day from a fabulous, nine day vacation in Virginia. If anyone is looking to do the Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, Water County USA trip, I highly recommend staying at the Kingsmill Resort. Beautiful! Such a fun and relaxing trip.Anyway, in addition to all of our adventures, we had some downtime too so I was able to lay around and read a bit at the pool and on the balcony. I finished two books, The Midnight Queen and Frigid. Rather than write two lengthy reviews, I am just going to mini-review both books in one post.

This is Sylvia Izzo Hunter's debut fantasy novel. While it isn't a fast-paced story, I still enjoyed it. It takes place in Britain but in an alternate history where there is magic, romance, and a treasonous plot to kill a very important person. Sophie is the main character, a young woman who wants to study magic in a time when women were not considered scholars. Her growth in the story was well developed by the author. I liked how she began as someone who didn't know herself or her potential and slowly grew into a stronger, more confident person/magic user. Gray, who is our other main character, was a student from Merlin College who comes to stay at Sophie's home when falsely accused of a crime and the two connect immediately. Gray sees magic in Sophie and helps her to learn how to use it. Once they find out that her stepfather is part of a conspiracy, they gather their allies and do their best to stop it. There are a few action scenes that propel the story forward but it did take me a few chapters to really invest myself in the book. Once I did however, I was hooked and I look forward to reading the sequel.

The second book was a quick read that I knew I would be able to finish in one night. I am very picky with my romance novels because it isn't my favorite genre. I need a story to focus more on plot with romance as a back story to really enjoy it. I loved Jennifer Armentrout's Lux series however, so I thought I would give this a try. Frigid is one of those perfect beach reads. It does have a plot, but not a particularly deep one. It was also a bit predictable and at times as I find many romances are. However... it was a fun read too and did have a bit of humor and drama to elevate the story. I liked the characters and the romance developed at a decent pace. If you like new adult romance, you will enjoy it. Click on the photo to see the synopsis on Amazon. I'm adding both of these books to my 2015 Where are You Reading Challenge Map and this brings me to 15 books so far this year (out of my goal of 60). I'm so behind. :(I blame my new job and my son's Xbox One. I will reach my goal!Have a great reading week!